Men's Basketball Rings in New Year with Monday Matinee vs. Boston University at Sojka Pavilion

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Two teams looking to bounce back from losses on the opening day of the Patriot League season square off on Monday when Bucknell hosts Boston University. It's a rare Monday afternoon game at Sojka Pavilion, as the Bison and Terriers tip off at 2 p.m. on the New Year's national holiday.

Bucknell struggled mightily on offense in Friday's 60-58 loss at Holy Cross, but the Bison nearly stole one anyway after erasing all of an 18-point deficit with 11 minutes to play. Ultimately they fell a bucket short when Xander Rice's last-second 3-point attempt hit the back iron, summing up a 2-for-19 afternoon from the arc. Bucknell was the 14th-best 3-point shooting team in the nation entering the game.

Meanwhile, a veteran Boston University squad dropped its conference opener at home to Navy, 75-58 despite 16 points apiece from Walter Whyte and Ethan Brittain-Watts. Like Bucknell, the Terriers struggled from downtown, hitting just 8 of 36 against the Midshipmen.

Bucknell and Boston University meet for the 24th time, with the Bison leading the all-time series 14-9. One of Bucknell's best performances of last season came at home against the Terriers. Bucknell won 89-78 on Senior Day, with all five starters scoring in double figures.

GAME DIGEST
What: Boston University (7-7, 0-1 PL) at Bucknell (7-7, 0-1 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Monday, Jan. 2, 2 p.m.
Streaming: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley (100.9 FM)
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
TICKETS
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

With a Win over Boston University, Bucknell Would ...

... snap a three-game losing streak and move back over .500 on the season at 8-7.
... improve to 5-1 at home this season.
... improve to 147-37 against Patriot League opponents at Sojka Pavilion.
... defeat the Terriers for the second straight time and improve to 15-9 all-time against them.

Headlines

Bucknell looks to shake its first three-game losing streak of the season when Boston University visits Sojka Pavilion for the first game of the 2023 calendar year.
Both teams are coming off losses on the opening day of Patriot League play and come in with identical 7-7/0-1 records. The Bison fell 60-58 at Holy Cross on Friday, while the Terriers lost at home to Navy, 75-58.
Bucknell came into the Holy Cross game ranked 14th nationally in 3-point percentage (.398) but hit just 2 of 19 from downtown against the Crusaders. Still, the Bison managed to tie the game after trailing by 18 with 11 minutes to play.
After a strong offensive start to the season, the Bison have slumped in recent games. Bucknell shot 50% or better in seven of the first nine games and ranked in the top 10 nationally in field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage. Over the last five contests, however, the Bison have struggled at the offensive end and now will face a Boston University team that ranks second in the Patriot League in opponent field-goal percentage (.417) and third in scoring defense (67.2).

Bucknell Offense
   PPG    FG%   3FG%
First 9 Games   75.6   .509   .399
Last 5 Games 62.4   .415   .337
Last 2 Games    54.0   .339   .205

Senior Xander Rice has upped his scoring output in his senior season and comes into Monday's game as the Patriot League's third-leading scorer at 15.5 ppg. Rice has scored in double figures in every game this season and 15 straight dating back to last year.

2022-23 Patriot League Scoring Leaders
1. Gerrale Gates, Holy Cross    17.5
2. Tucker Richardson, Colgate   15.8
3. Xander Rice, Bucknell    15.5
4. Walter Whyte, Boston U.    14.6
5. Keith Higgins Jr., Lehigh    14.2

Boston University went 7-6 overall and 4-0 at home in non-league play before dropping its Patriot League opener to Navy at Case Gym on Friday. That was a four-point game with 6:30 to play before the Midshipmen pulled away late.
The Terriers returned 14 of 17 players from last year's squad that won 22 games, including a victory over UNC Greensboro in the College Basketball Invitational. The Terriers did lose the 2022 Patriot League Player of the Year Sukhmail Mathon and all-league guard Javante McCoy. This is still the league's oldest team, however, with three graduate students and two seniors in the starting lineup.
Sixth-year forward Walter Whyte leads the team in scoring (14.6) and rebounding (5.9). Senior Ethan Brittain-Watts is second in a balanced scoring attack at 9.8 ppg, and he is a perfect 15-for-15 from the foul line.
The Bison were picked eighth in the Patriot League preseason coaches' poll, ahead of Holy Cross and Lafayette. Defending-champion Colgate was the preseason No. 1 pick, while Boston University was No. 2.
Bucknell is looking to bounce back from a 9-23 season a year ago. The Bison were playing well at the end of the season, however, with an overtime win at Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament first round capping a 3-1 stretch. Bucknell was eliminated by Colgate in the quarterfinal round.
Bucknell won eight Patriot League regular-season titles in a nine-year span from 2011-19, and the Bison went to the NCAA Tournament in 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2018 during that stretch. Now Bucknell is trying to rebound from a rare run of three straight sub-.500 seasons, something that has not happened since 2007-08 to 2009-10, although the Bison did win conference tournament games in each of the last three years.

How to Get the Game

Monday's game will stream live on ESPN+, with "Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong and former Bucknell assistant coach Terry Conrad describing the action.
Kevin Foedinger will have the local radio call on The Valley 100.9 FM in the Susquehanna Valley.
The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Live statistics can be accessed via BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Bucknell vs. Boston University Series Notes

Bucknell and Boston University have met 23 times previously in men's basketball, and the Bison have a 14-9 lead in the series.
Bucknell is 7-4 at home in the series, 6-5 on the road and 1-0 at neutral sites. In games played in Boston, Bucknell is 2-1 at Agganis Arena and 4-4 at Case Gym. The Bison were once 4-0 at Case Gym, but have since lost four straight there.
The two teams met for the first time at the 2005 Cable Car Classic at Santa Clara. The Bison won that one 63-57.
The Bison and Terriers split last year's series, with the home team winning both contests. Boston University won 63-61 on New Year's Day at Case Gym, and Bucknell returned the favor with an 89-78 win on Senior Day at Sojka Pavilion. That snapped a four-game series losing streak.
Last year's Patriot League opener came right down to the final possession. Bucknell trailed by one point in the closing seconds, but Andrew Funk's potential go-ahead jumper came up short. Funk did have 25 points in the game to lead the Bison. Sukhmail Mathon had a huge day for the Terriers with 21 points and 18 rebounds.
Funk enjoyed his Senior Day with 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists as Bucknell turned in one of its best performances of the season. Xander Rice led the team with 19 points, and Elvin Edmonds IV (13), Alex Timmerman (13), and Andre Screen (10) also hit double figures. Mathon paced Boston University with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Notable Numbers

Through 14 games in 2022-23, Bucknell has been much-improved defensively over last season, when the Bison struggled to get stops. Bucknell ranks No. 1 in the Patriot League in field-goal percentage defense and second in both 3-point defense and scoring defense.

   Scoring Defense   Opp. FG%     Opp 3FG%
2021-22   79.4   .466    .373
2022-23   66.4 .400   .322

Bucknell has held nine of its 14 opponents under 40% from the field this season. Saint Peter's (.516), La Salle (.500), Richmond (.500), Rutgers (.493), and Holy Cross (.433) are the only teams to hit better than 40% against the Bison this season, and Bucknell is 0-5 in those games.
Xander Rice was named Tournament MVP of the Ocean Bracket at the Sunshine Slam during Thanksgiving Week. On Dec. 18 against Merrimack, he was held to 11 points, but he did hand out nine assists without a turnover. Rice, who ranks third in the Patriot League in assist/TO ratio (2.0), is one of only 27 Division I players — and the only one from the Patriot League — to log nine or more assists with no turnovers in a game this season, and he is only the fourth different Bison to do it in the last 18 years.

Last Time Out

Bucknell fought back to tie the game after trailing by 18 points with 11 minutes to play, but Holy Cross held the Bison without a field goal for the final two minutes and survived a last-second miss in a 60-58 win in the Patriot League openers for both teams on Friday afternoon at the Hart Center.
Gerrale Gates tallied 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Crusaders, who were stout defensively throughout most of the game.
Alex Timmerman logged 18 points and nine boards to lead the Bison, who shot just 36.7% from the field and 2-for-19 from 3-point range. Bucknell came into the game ranked 14th nationally in 3-point shooting at 39.8% but missed its first 11 in this one.
Bucknell trailed 49-31 after Joe Octave's layup with 11:12 remaining. Ruot Bijiek's three from the left wing, the team's first of the day, ignited a furious 26-8 run over the nine minutes.
The Bison tied it with exactly 2:00 remaining when Elvin Edmonds IV fed Jake van der Heijden for a layup. Will Batchelder broke the tie with a spinning shot in the lane, and then Timmerman couldn't get three shots in the paint to fall. Nolan Dorsey split two at the line to make it 60-57 with 17 seconds left. The Crusaders elected to foul Ian Motta with a 3-point lead with 5.9 to go. Motta made 1 of 2, but then Jade Tse missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Bucknell had one last shot, but Xander Rice's contested three hit the back iron as time expired.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell plays at home again on Thursday when Lehigh comes to Sojka Pavilion for a 7 p.m. game.
Lehigh had a similar result to Bucknell in its Patriot League opener at Army on Friday. The Mountain Hawks erased a 21-point deficit, only to fall by two (80-78) on the road. Lehigh hosts Colgate on Monday before heading to Lewisburg.

Men's Basketball Rings in New Year with Monday Matinee vs. Boston University at Sojka Pavilion

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Andrew Funk

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

Men's Basketball Rings in New Year with Monday Matinee vs. Boston University at Sojka Pavilion

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Andrew Funk

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

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